Arsenal v Man U. Prognostications, Ozil vanishes and injuries

By Bulldog Drummond

It is interesting to note that Manchester U have lost two and won three of their last five matches.

Date Game Res Score Competition
05 Nov Chelsea v Manchester United L 1-0 Premier League
18 Nov Manchester United v Newcastle United W 4-1 Premier League
22 Nov FC Basel v Manchester United L 1-0 Champs League
25 Nov Manchester United v Brighton and Hove W 1-0 Premier League
28 Nov Watford v Manchester United W 2-4 Premier League

which is pretty much the same as Arsenal…

Date Game Res Score Competition
05 Nov 2017 Manchester City v Arsenal L 3-1 Premier League
18 Nov 2017 Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur W 2-0 Premier League
23 Nov 2017 1.FC Köln v Arsenal L 1-0 Europa League
26 Nov 2017 Burnley v Arsenal W 0-1 Premier League
29 Nov 2017 Arsenal v Huddersfield Town W 5-0 Premier League

Although the team we put out against  1.FC Köln  was far removed from the team in other games.

Overall Manchester U is one of the few teams that we have lost more games against than we have won.  They have won 96, Arsenal 82 and 47 have been drawn, so there is quite a bit of catching up to do so there is quite a bit of catching up to do.  We think Arsenal have a good chance of winning this one.  Punters can bet using Jackpot City app for this match and the other matches this weekend.

What is also interesting is that of late the pendulum has swung back in our favour a little.  The run from 1991 to 1997 was truly shocking… we won one game in 13 in that run, that being on 4 November 1995 when we beat them in the Premier League 1-0.

But then we won four in a row and actually did much better – the upturn generally being associated with the arrival of Mr Wenger.  We didn’t win every game going, but we did quite well… but even that run included a 6-1 defeat in 2001.

Five defeats in 21 games – a clear improvement.  But then with the 2004 cup final another bad run came along.  In 2004 we played them four times and lost three (winning just one – the Community Shield.  From 2009 to 2015 we played them 15 times and won just once.  It really was rather depressing once again.

But the final stretch of matches however has shown a rebuilding of our fortune against Man U.  That doesn’t mean we thump them out of sight each time, but the six games from 2015 up to today’s game has given us a run of three wins, two draws and just one defeat.    That run ought to keep running, methinks.

Date Game Res Score Competition
09 Mar 2015 Manchester United v Arsenal W 1-2 FA Cup
17 May 2015 Manchester United v Arsenal D 1-1 Premier League
04 Oct 2015 Arsenal v Manchester United W 3-0 Premier League
28 Feb 2016 Manchester United v Arsenal L 3-2 Premier League
19 Nov 2016 Manchester United v Arsenal D 1-1 Premier League
07 May 2017 Arsenal v Manchester United W 2-0 Premier League

What is also interesting in this recent run is that we have scored 11 and Man U six.

The latest team news gossip is that Luke Shaw, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are not in the Man U squad and Nemanja Matic is a major doubt for Manchester United.

Elsewhere we are told that “the Manchester United boss has confirmed that Eric Bailly, Phil Jones and Maroune Fellaini are all out.”

Mind you, there is also a bloggetta headline saying that Ozil has signed a new contract, but then there is nothing about that in the story.  Pesky things these headlines.  And we found another suggesting Lacazette will play after all, as in “journalist Ben Dinnery is reporting that the 28-year-old has returned to training with the first team ahead of Saturday’s match.”

In fact Physioroom has the Man U injury list as…

Man down What happened When is he back Anything of late?
N Matic Muscle Injury December 2, 2017 Late Fitness Test
M Fellaini Knee Injury No Return Date No
E Bailly Groin Strain December 10, 2017 Major Doubt
P Jones Thigh December 10, 2017 No
M Carrick Heart Condition No Return Date No

Arsenal are still doing very poorly in the injury league, and really need to make some more effort to live up to their media reputation of being the most injury prone club in the western spiral arm of the galaxy.  Here’s the list from Physioroom

# TEAM Total out Last man down What happened
1 Everton 8 M Keane Head Injury
2 Watford 8 W Hughes Hamstring Injury
3 Crystal Palace 6 L Milivojevic Knock
4 West Bromwich Albion 6 K Gibbs Thigh
5 West Ham United 6 W Reid Hamstring Injury
6 Burnley 5 S Defour Knee Injury
7 Manchester United 5 M Fellaini Knee Injury
8 Stoke City 4 E Choupo-Moting Ankle Injury
9 Liverpool 4 J Matip Muscle Injury
10 Bournemouth 4 J Stanislas Groin Strain
11 Chelsea 4 D Luiz Knee Injury
12 Huddersfield Town 3 P Billing Ankle Injury
13 Newcastle United 3 C Atsu Thigh Muscle Strain
14 Tottenham Hotspur 3 H Winks Illness
15 Leicester City 3 K Iheanacho Illness
16 Southampton 3 S Long Calf Injury
18 Brighton and Hove 2 G Bong Knee Injury
19 Manchester City 2 L Sane Illness
19 Arsenal 2 A Lacazette Groin strain
20 Swansea City 1 K Bartley MCL Knee Ligament

Usual caveat here – our two include Santi Cazorla, who is not actually eligible to play not being included in the 25 list.

Next up, the teams.

Arsenal v Man U – the story thus far

Meanwhile if you have an interest in Bob Dylan’s music and have ever searched for a Dylan song you may well have come across Untold Dylan since we are often at or near the top of such searches..  We are sometimes asked if that is us too, and yes it is.

6 Replies to “Arsenal v Man U. Prognostications, Ozil vanishes and injuries”

  1. ‘Usual caveat here – our two include Santi Cazorla, who is not actually eligible to play not being included in the 25 list.’
    It’s probably about time to remove him from all lists completely, as it’s obvious he will now never play for Arsenal again. Don’t know how long his current contract is for, but he’ll most likely not be given a new one (to avoid the Diaby syndrome).
    I may seem a bit unsympathetic, but he is a multi millionaire after all and will live a comfortable rest of his life.

  2. Good morning Mr Drummond.
    The prognosis is that 14 match win gap advantage Man Utd have over Arsenal will be reduced to 13 at the end of this evening’s Premier League game encounter between Arsenal and Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium.

    The media outlets seemingly transferring Oezil to Man Utd unabatedly hadn’t work as they have contradicted themselves by saying he has extended his staying at Arsenal beyond this season’s campaing if reports in the same media are to be believed.

    I think if Arsenal beat Man Utd this evening at the Ems in the PL, it will go a long way to give confidence boost to them in their PL Title win charge this season as they will not only reduce the points gap between Man U and themselves to just 1, but will start eyeing challenging Man City to the Title who are currently on top of the table. But despite Man City toping them with 12 points already at week 13 stage of this season’s PL campaign,this 12 points gap which if not sustained does not guarantee they will remain there on top as their 12 points lead on Arsenal can start falling away quickly than imagined to give Arsenal the chance to capitalise and start mounting pressure on them unrelentingly until they overtake them in the table and top it when the year turnaround because Arsenal always top the table every season but when they top it this time around this season, they’ll remain on top of it and never come down from it till season end. Right?

    Arsenal are unconcerned on Man City basking in their 13 game winning run in the PL this season. For, Man City attempt to equal Arsenal 14 game winning run record in a single season in the PL and surpass it will not be achieved by them. But If at all they try as much as they can, they may equal the record that is exclusive to Arsenal only. But they won’t break the record talk less of them equalling Arsenal unbeaten season run record in the PL.

  3. Jax – “I may seem a bit unsympathetic, but he is a multi millionaire after all and will live a comfortable rest of his life.” I completely forgot that it was literally impossible to become depressed and distraught if you have a lot of money, thanks for reminding me.

    I guess the fact that he nearly lost his foot, had to remove 8 centimetres a part of his achilles tendon, will never be able to play at the absolute top level of the profession that he loves again, will have to go through even more gruelling rehab whilst watching his fellow team-mates go from strength to strength and will now be without a career or purpose in his life after having dedicated it all to football, must mean absolutely nothing to him, because at least he has that money, yeah?

  4. That was fated, after I tried today’s to sort things out and no dice, I knew the result! Post, bar, Dw Gea, indeed a forcefield and two penalties turned down for good measure!

    Mariner has hadeach of the last three of this fixture between united and Arsenal! Let’s not even get into his racist mistaken identity!

    At least Spurs lost! And we have completed the first stint of top 6! And have back markers to pass!

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